I. Field of the Disclosure
The technology of the disclosure relates generally to managing power consumption on a communication bus and particularly on a SOUNDWIRE™ communication bus.
II. Background
Mobile phones have evolved from relatively simple devices that mimicked operation of a phone on the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to complex mobile computing devices that include substantial computing power capable of performing many computing functions as well as serving as multimedia platforms for audio and/or video capture and/or playback.
To assist in the handling of audio activity, such mobile computing devices may include multiple microphones and multiple speakers. Various techniques exist to facilitate communication between these audio components and an audio processor. Most such techniques contemplate an analog interface requiring a dedicated two-port wiring. The MIPI® Alliance initially published the Serial Low-power Inter-chip Media Bus (SLIMbusSM) standard to harmonize communication between these audio components and the audio processor. However, SLIMbus has not seen widespread industry adoption, due in part to its complexity. In response to the low acceptance of SLIMbus, the Low Speed Multipoint Working Group (LML-WG) of MIPI is working on a new standard called SOUNDWIRE™, which is conceptually simpler than SLIMbus, and may receive wider industry adoption. SOUNDWIRE allows all devices to share a two-wire communication bus having a clock and data line. The devices share the data line through a time division multiplexing (TDM) frame structure to transport media streams.
Mobile computing devices typically run on a rechargeable battery. Consumer demand requires maximizing time between recharging the battery, and thus, there is substantial pressure to reduce power consumption within mobile computing devices. SOUNDWIRE, as proposed by MIPI, may not provide optimal power savings for mobile computing devices.